TORONTO - Whooping cough is on track to reach a record number of cases in Ontario while infections climb in eastern provinces and decline in Quebec, but experts say trying to predict the course of the highly contagious disease has been especially difficult this year. This is the first time the disease has circulated to a significant extent since pre-pandemic years and in contrast to influenza, it doesn’t follow a predictable pattern apart from resurging every few years, says Dr. Jesse Papenburg, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist in Montreal.
Like other respiratory illnesses, Papenburg says we’re still learning about how public health measures ushered in during the pandemic upended the typical cycle of whooping cough surges. Provincial counts show the vaccine-preventable disease — also known as pertussis or the “100-day cough” — has exceeded peak pre-pandemic numbers in Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador. Western provinces are seeing regular counts.
Rates are especially high in Ontario where public health data released Wednesday included the death of an adult, but no details on the case. The disease is most risky for unvaccinated infants, children and older people, according to infectious diseases physician Dr. Isaac Bogoch.
Still, he said adult deaths are rare. “I can’t actually think of the last time I heard of a fatal case in an adult in Canada, but certainly, if we look at the literature, we know it d.